Future of the Judiciary - Part 1

• NCJ Number: 79188
• Author(s): Anonymous
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 44 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Country: Netherlands
• Note: Werkgroep uit de Vereniging voor rechterlijke ambitenaren in opleiding

Annotation

The attitudes of trainees for the Dutch judiciary toward the work of the judge, their training course, and the selection process for acceptance in training are surveyed.

Abstract

According to the training procedures instituted in 1956, the trainee for the judiciary undergoes a 4-month trial period filling various court functions, followed by the actual training period of 6 years--2 as a court clerk, 2 as an acting officer of justice in a prosecutor's office, and 2 'outside' as an attorney. The system is characterized by closed training within the environment of the judge and only short periods with police and other legal agencies, by long duration, and by a very tenuous legal position of the trainee. A work group of trainees has undertaken this study as a means of assessing the actual training situation. To that end, questionnaires were given to 120 trainees in 1975, 61 of whom responded. Analysis of the questionnaires shows that most trainees do not believe in the possibility or even desirability of completely value-free legal pronouncements by judges. They feel that the authority is taken for granted because of judges' ivory-tower mentality. The trainees favor tolerance toward political outbreaks in court and judges' social involvement and communications skills. Most trainees believe that they can influence the judge's sentence. They consider the training period in the prosecutor's office more fruitful than that in the clerk's office. Although sensitive to having to adjust to the traditional judicial style, most trainees do not regret having undertaken training. Most trainees express negative attitudes toward trainee selection procedures. In general, trainees see the judge as a socially aware individual with a high degree of independence and a strong sense of responsibility toward his or her own work. However, most trainees feel that their own independent function is threatened and would like to have more openness in the trainee selection process and criteria. Analysis of respondents' personal data indicates that of 37.5 percent of the respondents studied in Leiden half come from an academic environment and three-quarters have their roots in the high or middle classes. Notes are supplied. For the second part of this study, see NCJ 79189.